Tommy Waters

A leadership shakeup today at the Honolulu City Council landed Ikaika Anderson the chairmanship of the council while Tommy Waters was sworn in to represent East Honolulu following a court challenge and months of delays. The changes came as the council also took up the contentious issue of short-term vacation rentals.

Problems counting mail-in ballots and an extremely small margin created chaos in the 2018 Honolulu City Council election between Tommy Waters and Trevor Ozawa. Several bills at the legislature aim to correct those problems.

Tommy Waters is the apparent winner in the Honolulu City Council special election representing District 4 stretching from Waikiki to Hawaii Kai. The unofficial results show Waters drew 17,491 votes to Trevor Ozawa's 16,487, a margin of 1,004 votes.

On Saturday, April 13th the voters of Honolulu City Council District 4 will decide who they want to represent them in local government. The special election is between Tommy Waters and Trevor Ozawa. The Hawaii Supreme Court invalidated the November election results after a close margin of 22 votes.

The Hawai’i Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on the District IV general election challenge in which Councilmember Trevor Ozawa had a 22-vote margin of victory over challenger Tommy Waters. Attorney Thomas Otake, who represents 39 East O’ahu voters and Tommy Waters, an attorney who represented himself, argued that late votes were counted and mistakes were made. Here’s an excerpt with Attorney Otake followed by Attorney Waters.

The Hawaii Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow that will determine the outcome of a contested race here in Honolulu. The lack of a law on mandatory recount has several state lawmakers scurrying to draft bills to avoid a similar dilemma in the future. A 22 vote spread is at the heart of an election drama that has City councilman Trevor Ozawa up against challenger Tommy Waters. The City Council’s business is on hold until the Supreme Court decides the way forward.